The Vicar's Letter

A colleague reminded me that we have the whole year to celebrate the new millennium. I am grateful to him for that reminder, because the temptation is that we try to squash into January all of our millennium celebrations. More celebrating is to come with a united service at Burton on Pentecost Sunday and a flower festival at Gaydon celebrating the Good Life that we enjoy through Jesus.

At this start of the Millennium it would be good to reflect on some verses from the Book of Revelation. Jesus speaks and says 'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end'. Let us begin our celebration with Jesus and let us end our life's celebration with him too.

I wish you all joy and peace in the New Year and our New Century.

Congratulations Vicar!

We are delighted to announce that the Vicar,

Philip Francis, is now a Master of Theology.

Well done!

Gaydon Church Flowers

Many thanks to all who contributed towards decorating the Church for Christmas.

The Flower Rota was well supported during 1999 and I am grateful to everyone who helps. 2000's rota will soon be available for completion!

JL

Children's Society

Box holders are reminded that annual openings should be done before the end of January, please.

JL

Christmas Market

This year's event raised the tremendous amount of £1361.68. Many thanks to everyone who contributed in any way, particularly to stall holders for their hard work.

JL & CC & MF

Parochial Church Council

The PCC will meet on Monday 17 January at 8pm in the Church.

Flag

December birthdays included those of Oliver Quinlan and Claire Leverton. Congratulations to Alan Gulliver on his twenty-first!

There are no official dates in January.

To arrange for the flag to be raised for your personal celebration please give your request to Mrs Fox at the Old School or to Dave Bennett at 4 St Marks Close together with a donation of at least £1 to the Church Fabric Fund. Please allow 48 hours' notice if possible.

Friendship Club

The January meeting will be on Thursday 20th at 22 St Marks Close at 2.30pm.

Village Hall

The next meeting of the Village Hall Committee will take place on Tuesday 11 January at 7.30pm.

Thanks

Over 60s Lunch

Once again a group of invited pensioners gathered in the Village Hall to enjoy a delicious meal on the Sunday before Christmas.

Many thanks to Mrs Dunne and her band of helpers who make this happy occasion come about in spite of hazards such as this year's power cut!

This was the 25th Gaydon Christmas Lunch organised by Mrs Dunne but also, unfortunately, the first one she could not attend - owing to a bout of Chadshunt 'flu. We trust that she has now recovered fully.

Magazine

The Editor would like to thank all those who generously give their time to help in the production and distribution of the Parish Magazine.

Births

Congratulations to the Barron family in Kineton Road on the birth of Oliver, a second son.

Gaydon 2000

Free Parish Magazines

Happy New Year! Gaydon 2000 has arrived and to begin our celebrations leading up to the new Millennium in 2001 we are giving away copies of the Gaydon with Chadshunt Parish Magazine. We shall not be asking for subscriptions this spring and anyone who does not receive the magazine at present may contact the Editor and arrange to have it delivered.

Christmas Lights Competition

I am grateful to all of you who took part in the competition: there were some most attractive displays. It was great fun going round the village in the pouring rain and raging wind on the night of the 23rd with my hardy fellow-judges viewing all the flashing santas and reindeer and Christmas trees and so on. There were several pretty window displays and we were impressed by the neon 2000 sign which could be seen from the road to Chadshunt! After a great deal of discussion it was decided that the house-front winner must be Church View with its magnificent variety of different lights, including a crib scene. The window winner is 4 Church Road, for an unusual and artistic display. Therefore, we congratulate Julie and Jonathan Bidwell and the Haydon family as the happy winners: their fizzy prizes should be with them on 01.01.00. Don't be too disappointed if you did not win because you can try again next year!!

Millennium Saints of Gaydon

Gaydon Church is one of a large number dedicated to the glory of God and in honour of St Giles, the patron saint of cripples, beggars and blacksmiths. Not a great deal is known of his life. He is believed to have lived at some time in the eighth century as a hermit in the forest at the mouth of the River Rhone in southern France.

According to the legend, his only companion was a pet hind which he had rescued from the pursuit of huntsmen led by Flavius Wamba, king of the Visigoths. The king was much impressed by the holy man and

established a monastery of which Giles became the abbot.

The church celebrates St Giles' Day on the first of September every year.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

This story is taken from an American article on the World Wide Web Site of CIN org. about the origin of this traditional Christmas song. It is sub-titled 'An Underground Catechism' and is by Fr Hal Stockert.

You're all familiar with the Christmas song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' I think. To most it's a delightful nonsense rhyme set to music. But it had a quite serious purpose when it was written.

It is a good deal more than just a repetitious melody with pretty phrases and a list of strange gifts.

Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England, were prohibited from any practice of their faith by law - private or public. It was a crime to be a Catholic.

'The Twelve Days of Christmas' was written in England as one of the 'catechism songs' to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith - a memory aid, when to be caught with anything in writing indicating adherence to the Catholic faith could not only get you imprisoned, it

could get you hanged, or shortened by a head - or hanged, drawn and quartered, a rather peculiar and ghastly punishment I'm not aware was ever practiced anywhere else.

Hanging, drawing and quartering involved hanging a person by the neck until they had almost, but not quite, suffocated to death; then the party was taken down from the gallows, and disembowelled while still alive; and while the entrails were still lying on the street, where the executioners stomped all over them, the victim was tied to four large farm horses, and literally torn into five parts - one to each limb and the remaining torso.

The song's gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith.

The 'true love' mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, it refers to God Himself.

The 'me' who receives the presents refers to every baptized person. The 'partridge in a pear tree' is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem:

'Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so...'

The other symbols mean the following:

2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the
Pentateuch, history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the
seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the
Apostles' Creed.